How peptides get their names.
A research catalog mixes two kinds of names: generic names with meaningful endings, like sermorelin and ipamorelin, and code names that look arbitrary, like BPC-157 and SS-31. Both kinds carry information once the system is clear. Here are the stems the World Health Organization assigns to peptide drugs, and the stories behind the codes on the compounds in the research library.
The ending says the class.
Generic drug names are International Nonproprietary Names, assigned by the World Health Organization, and the end of the word is a stem that places the molecule in a class. For peptides the common stems are below. A stem is assigned only when a compound is named as a drug candidate, which is why many research peptides have none and go by code names instead.
| -relin | Peptides that stimulate the release of a pituitary hormone: sermorelin, tesamorelin and gonadorelin. See GHRH analogues |
|---|---|
| -morelin | The sub-stem for growth hormone secretagogues: ipamorelin, pralmorelin (GHRP-2), anamorelin, hexarelin. See GHRPs explained |
| -tide | Peptides and glycopeptides in general: elamipretide (SS-31), larazotide, octreotide, teriparatide |
| -pressin | Vasopressin derivatives: desmopressin, terlipressin |
| -tocin | Oxytocin derivatives: carbetocin. See oxytocin |
| -glutide | Glucagon-like peptide analogues: liraglutide, semaglutide |
| -tocin, -pressin, -relin together | The hormone families of the hypothalamus and pituitary. See peptide hormones explained |
Letters that are the molecule.
The simplest codes are the one-letter sequence itself. GHK-Cu is glycine, histidine, lysine with copper; KPV is lysine, proline, valine; the Khavinson peptides are often written as their sequences, KE, AED, AEDG. PE-22-28 names a residue range, 22 to 28 of the parent peptide. How to read a peptide sequence decodes the letters.
Initials and series numbers.
Many codes are a laboratory's initials plus a number in its compound series. SS-31 is the thirty-first compound of Hazel Szeto and Peter Schiller, later given the INN elamipretide. CJC-1295 is compound 1295 from ConjuChem. BPC-157 expands to Body Protection Compound, the name its discoverers gave the gastric protein it was cut from, with 157 as their series number. AOD-9604 carries its developer's project acronym and number. P21 and 5-amino-1MQ are chemistry shorthand: a numbered compound in one case, a substituted methylquinolinium in the other.
What the fragment came from.
TB-500 points at thymosin beta-4, the protein it is cut from, with a vendor-style number. MOTS-c is an acronym for mitochondrial open reading frame of the 12S rRNA type-c, which is exactly where its gene sits. Humanin was named by its discoverers for the hope they attached to it. Kisspeptin has the oddest origin of all: its gene, KISS1, was found at a research center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and named after the town's chocolate. Peptide fragments collects the parents.
Russian peptides and bioregulators.
Semax and Selank were named by the Russian institute that made them, the second echoing the first. Epitalon comes from epithalamin, the pineal extract it was modeled on, and the Khavinson peptides are mostly named for the organ each was drawn from: Cartalax for cartilage, Pinealon for the pineal gland, Testagen, Livagen and Prostamax for theirs. Dihexa describes its own chemistry, a hexanoic acid at each end of a short peptide.
Wolverine, GLOW, KLOW.
Blends sold under names like Wolverine, GLOW and KLOW are vendor trade names, not chemical names, and they tell you nothing about the contents until the components are listed. What is a peptide blend? explains how to read them, and peptide vial codes explains Helion's own short codes, BB10, CP10, TSM5, which encode the compound and the mass rather than a brand.
Every name spelled out.
Each Helion compound page gives the trade name, the chemical name where one exists, the sequence and the identifiers, so the name on the vial can be matched to the molecule in the lab report. The glossary covers the rest of the vocabulary.
Specs and storage by compound.
Questions (7)
What does -relin mean in a peptide name?
It is the WHO stem for peptides that stimulate the release of a pituitary hormone, as in sermorelin, tesamorelin and gonadorelin.
What does -morelin mean?
The sub-stem for growth hormone secretagogues: ipamorelin, pralmorelin, anamorelin and hexarelin.
What does -tide mean?
The general stem for peptide drugs, as in elamipretide, larazotide and octreotide.
What does BPC-157 stand for?
Body Protection Compound, the name given to the gastric protein it was cut from, with 157 as the discoverers' series number.
What does SS-31 stand for?
Szeto-Schiller compound 31, after the two researchers who developed the series; its INN is elamipretide.
Why is kisspeptin called kisspeptin?
Its gene, KISS1, was discovered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and named after the town's chocolate Kisses.
Is Wolverine a chemical name?
No. It is a vendor trade name for a blend of BPC-157 and TB-500; the components and masses are what identify the product.
Published studies (0)
Citations from PubMed for reference. They describe the compound in the literature, not any Helion lot, and nothing here is guidance on use.